What business can learn from Adam Scott at Augusta is legendary

All of Australia admired the putt on the 10th (the second replay hole) that won Adam Scott the Masters at Augusta.

Much has been said about Adam Scott’s win – none better than Peter Fitzsimons.

But the win wasn’t set up at the last hole with the last putt. There are several key moments that to preceded that moment in order for him to eventually capitalise on the opportunity.

There are a few obvious milestones along the way:

• It took years of training to get there.
• It took years of performing at the highest levels to be invited to that specific tournament.
• He had to play consistently well (under pressure) for four days before that moment.
• He had to keep the faith even though he wasn’t in the lead.

But this is where it gets interesting. There are many players – arguably even most of the field – that did all of the above.

On the last hole of the last day Scott sunk an excellent putt to take the lead. His opponent had to approach the green and sink the putt (make a birdie) just to draw level. Adam celebrated and pumped his fist when he did it. The emotional high was obvious and it was intense.

He trudged off to complete his scorecard.

His opponent (what a revelation Angel Cabrera was!) played the perfect approach shot and left himself with only a short putt to draw level. Which he duly did. 

What happened next is what distinguished champions from the mere mortals.

Adam had to regather himself and return to the first play-off hole. Like a champion he played every shot well, but his opponent matched him shot for shot. Both had to putt again; on the same hole where Scott thought he might have had it won a few minutes earlier.

Scott was closest to the pin, which meant his opponent had to putt first. Cabrera sank a longish putt which demanded Scott had to sink his stay in the game. It was a relatively simple putt of about three feet (a metre or so). He would expect to sink it 999 time out of a thousand.

But if you know anything about golf you will also know that these putts that you are expected to sink. Just the previous year at the British Open he let a 3-shot lead slip over the last three holes. Those thoughts must have been swirling in his head. 

He rolled the three-footer in confidently.

They then played the second play off hole and we all know what happened. He had to sink a fairly long putt – one that no one would have strange if he had missed it. And he made it.

But I firmly believe that the previous putt on the first play-off hole was the one where the pressure was most. And that is where his champion credentials shone the brightest. And that shot was the difference between a champion and a great champion.

But most importantly: He celebrated his victory with humility.

And that my friend, is the difference between a great champion and a legend.

If your only tool is a hammer every problem looks like a nail

In a previous post I revealed that I have a weakness to explore multiple topics and interests – always seeking the latest and best.

I also have a pet hate, which may or may not be a weakness too. It may be the flipside of my yen for the epistemic; so let me explain:

I am reading a book at the moment This Explains Everything edited by John Brockman. Find it in my Library here.)

Basically it is a hundred plus thinkers/intelligentsia who are all trying to answer the same question: What is your favourite deep, elegant or beautiful explanation. The responses range from theories on consciousness to particle physics to natural selection. (Incidentally, it may the most referenced idea in the book.)

However, one thing struck me immediately:

• Physicists expounded a Physics theory
• Neurobiologists and neuro-scientific idea
• Linguists offered a linguistic idea.

And so on.

The bogan version of that phenomenon would be:

If the only tool you have is a hammer then every problem looks like a nail.

And THAT is one of my pet hates.

The book offers over a hundred ideas that are meant to be THE idea, which ironically proves the point that there is no ONE IDEA that ever will.

One of the flaws in our everyday thinking patterns is that we think exclusively more often than inclusively:

We normally think the answer is A or B. We rarely think the answer can be A and B.

Example 1: A company may feel compelled to choose between launching Product A or Product B, or feel compelled to choose a market penetration strategy over a diversification strategy.

Example 2: Australians are encouraged (by politicians and media alike) to be either for or against boat people. (The local illegal immigrant narrative in Australia.) But there is an inclusive solution.

Example 3: If you want to persuade a child to brush their teeth before they go to bed, you offer them two options: Do you want to brush your teeth now after the meal or do you want to brush it before you go to bed?

Example 3: In retail sales, we train assistants to use this general thinking style in their favour. When you ask a customer whether they prefer the red dress more or the blue one more, they say neither.

Practical resource constraints aside, there is no logical reason why only one answer will be the right answer.

I am not advocating indecisiveness – that would simply be lazy.

I am not advocating lack of focus – that would simply be stupid.

What I am saying that there isn’t always just one correct answer. There isn’t always just one tool for the job. By recognising this, we may actually save time and money by cutting short the search for perfection.

Dennis Price

• GANADOR: Architects of high-performance retail environments.
• Get RetailSmart: CHOOSE HERE.

How to waste money and feel good about it.

YOU SPEND IT ON TRAINING.

Would I succeed if I tried to motivate you?

Of course not!

And here is the kicker:

If I tried to train you will you learn?

Of course not!

Spending money on training is a sure-fire way to win votes. And it is true that when you evaluate and analyse the reason why people can’t do something is because they don’t know how.

If almost all the training you could possibly want is out there and it is free, then 'training' is no more a solution than oxygen is the solution to a happy life: you need it to live, but it won't make one life happier than another.

Most people think it stands to reason that we should spend more money on training. Right?

Wrong.

Very little learning actually happens in a training interaction. Only about 10% in fact.

Think back to your own school days:

How many days did you arrive home thinking you learned a lot that day? Think of how many hours you doodled or gazed through the window while the teacher was talking and chalking?

When kids ask: ‘where am I ever going to use this?’ they are dismissed as not ‘understanding the importance of an education’ but we are dismissing their intuitive grasp of what it means to be fed redundant knowledge.

People who complete TAFE qualifications increase their lifetime earnings by nearly $325,000. The question is what does it cost the state – and is it worth it? Presumably society will get a third back in taxes over a 40-year period. It costs about $14 p/h per student in the TAFE system. In my estimates that mean we will spend $45K to train one person and get a $100K return over 40 years. About 5% p.a. Not great if you ask me. And comparing the TAFE cohort to the non-TAFE cohort is fraught with selection bias. Arguably the person who is ambitious enough and disciplined enough to go to TAFE would have earned more than the non-student anyway

Think about your experience with corporate training:

How much time in a 7-hr workshop do you spend learning? How did you get decide whether that workshop was exactly right for you? After attending it, how many notes did you take and how much do you remember afterwards and how much of it actually results in changed behaviour?

You’d be lucky to get an hour’s worth of learning. The rest is listening to other people show off or ask stupid questions. A good chunk is spent ‘getting to know each other’ in order to create an environment that is ‘safe’ for learning.

People attend training programs and seminars and then go back to the office and ask Nellie how to do something anyway.

Training that happens in classrooms play a role in fostering a certain culture and encouraging bonding. But so does any meeting of a group of people who engage for any the purpose.

In learning and development circles there are a few brave souls who are now advocating informal learning or social learning. Simply put, this is learning by doing – outside the structure of a class room. The general rule of thumb is that this accounts for 70% of all learning. Another 20% of knowledge/skills are acquired by coaching/mentoring (sitting-next-to-Nellie) and only 10% of learning happens in a formal environment.

This paper by Deakin University does a good job of bringing all the thoughts about informal learning together.

In practice this means that of the roughly 2400 days spent at school, you only experienced 240 days of actual learning. Arguably the other ‘skills’ you acquired at school (socialisation, self-esteem etc) and the connections/friends that you made has some value, but could equally also be acquired in a different setting.

Australian workplaces spend about half the amount on training compared to the US (1.5% vs 3%). This means that Australians are smarter than Americans (they know not to waste their money) or that the Government takes too large a role in provision of training. The Government spends about 8% of its budget on training and education (not counting economic participation expenditures).

Would you like to live in ANY of the Top 5 countries in terms of education spend as percentage of GDP? How would you like to live in:

(This is not a % of Budget but % of GDP. If you study the list you will see there is NO correlation between economic status and eagerness to blow money on education.)

The bottom line: Training (the way it is most often done) is NOT the panacea people think it is.

I see learning like I see motivation.

Motivation is intrinsic and the best you can do as a manager/leader/coach is to create an environment that is conducive to achievement. You cannot motivate anyone.

In the same way you cannot train someone; but people can learn. Your job as manager/leader/coach is to create an environment that is conducive to learning.

The training industry is being challenged by flipped classrooms and (free) MOOCs. And so it should. This is an environment that is geared for the true learners (autodidacts) and they are the ones shaping our future.

Classrooms are hotbeds of mediocrity as teachers serve the lowest common denominators.

The stuff you need to learn is out there, and you don’t need a teacher if you are really motivated.

Many people hold Zuckerberg/Gates up as examples of not needing a college/university education. That is ridiculous. For every dropout who has been successful there are hundreds of graduates who are successful. Warren Buffet for one. The percentage of successful dropouts is most likely much lower than the percentage of successful graduates.

University may provide the context for learning - or not. It depends on the individual’s commitment to learning. Wozniak (Apple co-founder) describes his experience like this:

One accident that happened to me was that I taught myself, with no books, how to design computers in high school. I loved doing it and designed computers all the time, from descriptions of them in manuals by the companies that made them. I designed the same computers over and over and made a game out of trying to use fewer and fewer parts, coming up with tricks to accomplish my task that could never be in a book. They were ’tricks‘ in my own head. I felt that some of these tricks would be used by probably no other computer designer in the world. In my game world, on paper, where I could never afford to build my designs, I felt I was one of the best in the world.

The best things I did in my young years leading up to the early Apple computers were done because I had little money and had to think deeply to achieve the impossible. Also, I had never done those technologies or studied them. I had to write the book myself. Being self-taught, figuring out how to design computers with pencil and paper, made me skilled at finding solutions that I had not been taught.

Read this article on how Richard Branson thinks training will happen, and you will not there is no reference to classrooms.

Training should be a trigger for learning and is the starting point for change and growth in a high-performance retail environment.

People, who want to learn, will - whether the training is offered or not.

Success is 0% training and 100% learning. That should be our aim. If you treat ‘more training’ as the whole solution, you are guaranteed to fail. Save your money or do it right.

Mark Twain is quoted as follows:

They Didn’t Know It Was Impossible, So They Did It’

Too much training is about conforming to what is known and the world does not need more of that right now. Too much training is offered as the solution when people don’t know what else to do.

NOTE: Compliance training required by Law may be equally stupid exercise in CYA, but that is an unavoidable fact of corporate life

Hack it... or jump, but be quick

You can't preach innovation if you don't live it, right?Here are two new initiatives facilitated by Ganador.

ONE

There are two spots left to the first ever retail hackathon in Sydney, March 26 2013.

Grab your spot HERE - and be quick.

TWO

We have created a Google+ Community <Jump the Curve>. It is the online equivalent of our famous Jump the Curve workshop for entrepreneurs.

It is for entrepreneurs (retailers and suppliers) who want to transform their business.

Of course we have a Facebook page, but that is mostly fun because it is open to all.

The JtC community will be private and it is a space where we can ask questions, share insights, diagnose problems and make contributions.

We will facilitate discussion, curate some great content and help tackle the questions that are put to the community.

Go HERE NOW and ask to join.

Success is not sexy

I read a blog recently where someone answered that old chestnut: what does it take to be successful. (Jennifer Arrache: How to be an overnight success in 7 years.) More about that soon.

For the moment let’s assume the traditional definition of success is money, fame, power etc in some quantity.

The usual bromides about achieving success are:

• Follow your dream.
• Be passionate.
• Persevere.
• Make every moment count.
• Become an expert.
• Get a qualification.
• Take a chance – be brave.

I could go on.

The one thing that all of this advice has in common is the fact that it makes the giver-of-the-advice look good.

They had a skill or a special ability that most of the population don’t share and they are special and they are different and that is why they are successful.

The real truth is a lot more mundane than that.

1.               It is a given that you must actually be doing something; be engaged in some sort of labour or activity that has the potential to make you successful.

In my own case I have pursued ‘people development’ in the retail supply chain. I love retail. I am life-long learner and a teacher. No real ‘strategy’ behind that decision; just following the age-old wisdom that we should do what we love and success will follow.

Of course we do get strategic in our business. We have been implementing neuroscience principles in the retail selling environment for 4 years – it is not a bandwagon for us. We have a heavy focus on technology and we apply the latest principles of informal and social learning to improve productivity.

It would be stupid to think you can run a ‘training’ business that relies on rolling contract lecturers into classrooms and workshops presenting out of dated manuals.

2.               For success to come your way you need a measure of luck. (I am leaving God out of this for the moment too.) Now, you can’t control your luck – obviously; except that unless you are engaged in something where the luck can be meaningful (see #1 above) then the lucky event may mean nothing of course.

In my own case, when I started out, I applied for and was appointed and an Adjunct Lecturer at MGSM (and later MGSM). I thought that  (a) it would be helpful to associate myself with a serious brand and (b) force myself to stay at the cutting edge and (c) expose me to people from the industry that were on the up and up, leading to potential future work, and also to (d) give something back. Of course being paid to do it was nice, it paid the expenses at least, but I thought I was very clever that I could be paid by someone else to market my business.

None of that happened. But I did win a major international blue chip media company as a client and they wanted to see me in action before engaging me. That would be awkward to arrange if I wanted to have a potential client sit in on a session with an existing client. But no such trouble to attend a lecture on campus.

I never thought about that benefit – and the fact that it happened was sheer luck and had nothing to do with smarts. Of course hanging on to them for the next 5 years took more than luck, but luck gave me the opportunity.

3.               The final, and most important, piece of the success puzzle is contained in the blog I read earlier: PATIENCE.

The latter is obviously related to discipline, focus and perseverance. But the core issue here is patience.

It is not sexy. It does not make for good PR and it especially does not make for good speeches at conferences.

Patience is a virtue – not a skill.

Having patience is somehow not ‘special’ or ‘different’ – anybody could practice patience. When was the last time you heard someone say their greatest strength was ‘patience’?

Patience isn’t mucho – it is more Mother Theresa. It somehow does not fit the cut-and-thrust of entrepreneurship; but I have learned personally that it takes years to get somewhere.

It took over 4 years before any of my social media connections offered up a potential opportunity. It was almost 5 years before it resulted in a speaking engagement.

I have been writing an almost monthly) newsletter for 6 years or more. Whilst it is not designed to be a sales tool – we don’t offer products for sale – it took 6 years before it resulted in the first enquiry that led to actual work. My open rates are significantly higher than industry averages, but it does get disheartening when fewer than 40% even open the email. I came close to quitting the newsletter many times.

It took many years before we did work that was initiated by a client and did not come as a direct result of me picking up the phone or physically meeting someone. Only in the last few years have we been able to ease off on the cold-calling because more work was finding us.

Are we successful?

I suppose it depends on your definition of success. An amazing wife. Super kids. Enough of everything else to allow for discretionary time to read, write and work on amazing projects. It is not Instagram or Facebook. It is not Seth Godin or Tom Peters – but I can live with it because I know that…

… true success does not come from any special talents. You only have to do your thing, and do your thing as well as you possibly can. If you have a little bit of luck, you will have prepared the soil for it to flourish.

You can’t make the flower of success grow any faster with impatience. Just keep doing your thing and everything else will work out the way it does.

Dennis Price

• GANADOR: Architects of high-performance retail environments.
• Get RetailSmart:  Daily, Weekly or Monthly Options – CHOOSE HERE.

The secret behind the secret recipe to…

… success is that there isn’t one. Unlike a magician I did not sign up for a code of silence. Many authors/gurus would want you to believe differently so that they can take your money.

There as many ways to success as there are people.

Find your own way. The only thing that they all have in common is that people walking their way – i.e. doing something …

Taking ACTION is not a secret – it is just hard. And we hide behind the excuses that we don’t know what to do or how to do it and we postpone taking action.

There is no one way.

There are no secrets.

There is only one choice:

Action or Excuses.

And your choice is?

Five tips for shopping centre managers

There isn’t one way to be a successful centre manager, and my way is not the only way. But by sharing some thoughts I hope retailers will understand the ‘other side’ and centre teams might compare how they do things.

1.            Spend a lot of time on the floor

I learned my retail in South Africa. Whether it was myself (as a Trainee Area Manager 30 years ago) or the MD visiting stores, no matter what was happening anywhere in the business, during the peak lunch-hour trade every single person was expected to be on the floor and to be actively engaged with customers/ service etc. Meetings or lunches did not happen then because being on the floor was the priority.

With planning and a good system in place, it is possible to get a solid presence on the floor. As a rule of thumb someone from centre management should always be on the floor and the centre manager should be on the floor at least 2-3 hours a day. Some of the things I did:

• The teams should also be rostered on to the customer service desk once a week.
  
• Centre managers should schedule centre walks with each team member on a rotation.
  
• Being on the floor includes loading docks and fire exits and parking areas of course.
  
• Walking the floor should include face-to-face retailer communication and getting to know them by name.
  
• Get to know the performance of every store, not by studying the sales report, but by talking to the retailer regularly.
  

Head offices are guilty of setting demands on centre teams (for reporting etc.) that keeps them off the floor and then also demand that they be on the floor – so it is not always the centre manager’s fault, but time on the floor and paying attention to the (microscopic) detail is the most effective way to have an impact on the centre performance.

2.            Pay attention to detail

The bromide ‘retail is detail’ is an absolute truth. But that requires hard work because human tendency is to become ‘store blind’. It can only be combated by building a system to prevent it and by consciously resisting it.

A centre manager should train themselves to look for the little things like:

• know which cleaner is on duty in the food court
  
• see when a piece of mall furniture is too close to balustrade
  
• pay attention to the humming sound coming from a dead speaker in the ceiling
  
• notice when a sign is peeling
  
• be aware of the changes to the traffic flow because of a new casual lease
  
• randomly check the fire extinguisher service date
  
• inspect the broom cupboard for litter and personal belongings
  

Running a shopping centre (of any size) is like being the captain of large ship. Unless you are paying close attention, you don’t notice when you go off course easily or immediately and it takes a long time to turn around once you discover you have veered off course.

3.            Be stingy with abatements

Granted, when I was a centre manager the economy was more robust, but there are always and will always be retailers who struggle. My attitude generally has been that if a retailer needs money they should go to the bank – because that is what banks do. The exception to this rule is pre- and post-development centres that are undergoing structural change and instances where the property manager has actually made a mistake.

The only ‘rent relief’ I ever gave was for an independent food court operator who was robbed and did not have the cash to pay the rent. They caught up later though.

The key to managing rent relief is:

• To know your retail and retailers well enough to plan/execute early intervention (see Point #1)
  
• To have the right relationship with the retailers that enables you to be fair but firm – and be respected for your position based on your credibility. (See Point #1)
  

4.            Learn the art and science of retail

I know many centre teams who work hard at getting better – and strangely some younger centre managers are more knowledgeable than some old hands. (See point #1.) Centre managers are not in the retail business despite the fact that they are in and around retailers all the time. Learning about retail requires a concerted effort. I know Stockland runs a great in-house training program and there are obviously programs offered by the Shopping Centre Council – and I am sure there are other learning opportunities. But nothing beats the learning you get by being on the floor.

The one group that is unfortunately notably absent from most of those learning opportunities are the in-house Retail Design Managers. The RDMs (could) play a vital role in setting the retailer up for executing their proposition, but as a ‘profession’ they know a lot about design but I see too much evidence that many (not all) of them don’t know retail.

(Centre teams reading this on Inside Retailing are obviously less guilty of this than those who are not.)

5.            Systematise

When I started at Bankstown Square, I hid in my office for a week and set up a filing system. (You must have been worried, right Martin?) By the time I started dealing with the issues of my job, I had my workflow sorted. I also had a feel for the issues that were current and knew where to lay my hands on the things when I needed to.

In my first centre manager role, I spent about a month with my admin manager – the KEY to a successful centre operation. I built the system of getting the rent roll out on time and 100% accurate. There were many redundant checks and balances and there were (unbelievably) many checks that should have been made that weren’t part of the process. The end result was that we had zero disputes on our billing and therefore zero (lame) reasons to delay payments. And I saved a lot of time and raised my credibility.

These pointers apply to many other roles and positions – not just centre managers. In particular, if you are retailer, you can change the names and titles but the principles still apply.

Most importantly, whatever your industry, how much time do you ‘spend on the floor’?

GANADOR: Conceiving and implementing SMART solutions to create high-performance retail environments.

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To walk a thorny road, we may cover its every inch with leather or we can make sandals

To walk a thorny road, we may cover its every inch with leather or we can make sandals. (Indian parable.)

We all face thorny roads and we all have to make some decisions about how we respond.

• Option #1: Cover the road in leather = Control the environment. Think Big. Spend Big.
• Option #2: Make sandals = Empower the individual. Think Fast. Equip people to act.

When your business faces its inevitable thorny road, which option do you select? Which option do you follow; make sandals or lay down leather?

I am prepared to guess that you will say that you always choose to make the sandals, but where do you REALLY stand on equipping your people with sandals?

Here is the truth: There are more retailers who would rather not train their staff than those who would. And those that do, typically only want the training that suits them – not the staff.

Making sandals is about giving people the tools and the freedom to walk the road. When it comes to employees/suppliers/customers this is a lot harder than it seems. Inherent in choosing this option is the willingness to let go and to trust the person to do the right thing. They may even walk away.

We have seen very few retailers who are making sandals. We have seen so many examples of this that I can say this with complete conviction.

We founded Ganador seven years ago with a focus on helping the retail supply chain (landlords/ brands/ publishers) to put some sandals on the retail channel. This takes the form of consulting, marketing and importantly training. We thought at the time it would be a good idea to give the retailers the option of ‘free’ government-sponsored training too. But as of Feb 2013 we decided not to renew our license to function as a Registered Training Organisation (RTO). This means that we will no longer offer the TAFE-like certificates that attract government funding for trainees/apprentices.

Why would we walk away from a product that offers our clients the opportunity to be reimbursed for their training expenses and effectively get free training for their staff? Is that not a poor business decision on our behalf? After all, how many suppliers can offer their service to clients at no cost?

The reason we made this decision is because when businesses do the training because it is free not because it is the right thing, it doesn’t really work. Attending a workshop or completing an online module is not training – but that is mostly what you get when you pay nothing.

Real training requires a commitment from all parties to invest in the process of creating and improving our shared knowledge. Training is about building a culture of performance and you can’t do that when all you afford is to ‘tick the boxes’ required by a government curriculum.

This VET training could be part of your training solution, but if it is all you do (because it is free) then you have fallen for the myth that something is better than nothing.

In this case ‘something’ may be worse than nothing. You have made a very clear, loud statement to your employees that you are prepared to invest nothing in them – but expect them to invest their time in getting better for your benefit.

This perpetuates the wrong culture and it is no wonder that your employees leave – which simply reinforces the owner/manager’s belief that investing in training not worthwhile. Nobody wins.

Training is powerful, but is not a panacea for all ills. The worst thing you can do is to train the wrong things or for the wrong reason. We’d rather have no part in that.

Of course there are those who understand the transformational power of good training – and the benefits of having staff that are equipped to walk the thorny road. These are the people that also understand that they must first know where the road leads – and that staff also need the motivation to want to walk the road.

We see training as part of the implementation process: specific skills to achieve specific objectives as part of the process of transferring knowledge and enabling people.

We think that is the smart way, and we’ll stick by that and continue to seek companies who believe in the power of sandals. I am sure there are companies who believe the same. **

This post is not a disguised pitch. It is a sincere appeal to the people who are in a position to do so, to re-think their strategies and their motives when it comes to how you deal with the retail revolution we are facing. The retail industry has never needed more, smarter people doing the right things than now.

It is worth remembering this: If you continue to do what you have always done you will get what you always got.*

Dennis Price

GANADOR: Conceiving and implementing SMART solutions to create high-performance retail environments.

* A version of the quote above was made by Tony Robbins but not sure if he is the originator.

** Or we are hopelessly naïve. Only time will tell.

Is what other people know, worth knowing?

I am seriously re-thinking training and education - particularly formal education. There is nothing that illustrates this better than this video.

You may have to think about how this video supports may growing belief captured in the title of this post... but that is kinda the point.

Entrepreneur...

I say amen.

We should have an entrepreneur day to celebrate... Who is with me?

Your Reward

Apologies once again for the numerous re-posts. I have been on the receiving end of those before and now I know why: Feedburner going nuts.

Your reward is 20 minutes with Neil Gaiman. I promise it is worth it.

Training - as you never think about it

Every business achieves results when people do things.

How is that for stating the bleeding obvious?

This topic may initially seem to have limited appeal if your job does not involve training.  But whether you are a buyer, a marketer, an operations manager or a supplier – training is relevant to all of us because we all can only achieve results through people – even though your role may not require you to think about training directly much.

If that is not enough incentive, I will show how you can save money (most organisations are wasting money with common training approaches) and if that is not sufficient, I will link you to some freebies as a reward for sticking with me. It is that important!

Training is seen as the panacea for many organisational ills. It could be, but it isn’t.

Training does not always work very well. Here is a study to prove it to you.

According to the American Society for Training and Development (2008), US companies spent about $1103 per employee and $134.39 billion in total in 2007 to enhance their employees' skills and competencies. However, approximately 40 percent of participants of job-related training programs fail to transfer newly acquired knowledge and skills to the job context immediately after training, and altogether only 50 percent of training investments result in organizational or individual improvements (Saks, 2002). 

It is generally accepted amongst L&D professionals that the 70-20-10 philosophy applies when it comes to training efficiency. (See diagram below.)

• 70%
• 20%
• 10% from formal training.

The idea originated at Princeton University and although this ‘rule’ has not been substantiated by any formal research, it makes intuitive sense when you consider how much time the employee spends in formal training versus on-the-job training.

Even if it not 70% but only 50%, it is reminiscent of Lord Leverhulme’s (founder of Lever Brothers) famous quip:

I know that half of my advertising budget is wasted, but I don’t know which half.

The same can often be said for training, and if we are wasting ‘only’ half our training budget, that could be a substantial amount of money.

OK, so what does all that mean? What should I do with this information?

ONE: Make the FORMAL learning more effective.

Organisations should really (re-)think training and align training expenditure with where/how the learning actually takes place.

1.            Make it relevant

There is a time and place for ‘chalk-and-talk’, but because that is so difficult to scale there is less and less of that. eLearning is not a panacea either, but it is extremely cost-effective (and therefore attractive) for the right types of training, such as:

• some compliance training
• employee inductions
• franchise manuals/ standard operating procedures
• supplementary/ reinforcement training as part of a blended learning program

To give you an idea, after setup/development costs ALL the online training in your organisation can be conducted for under $100 per employee per year.

Imagine being a 100-store Franchisor that only needs to spend $10,000 annually on training!

2.            Be positive – make it fun

Research has proven that two things play a major role in the development and retention of skills and knowledge.

The biggest drivers of training efficiency are motivated, satisfied employees. Training is by itself not the ‘motivator’ and neither is it a sustainable ‘reward’. There are many more factors that make a workplace ‘satisfying’ and getting a small improvement in this area will have a multiplier effect on your training dollars.

In tough times like these employees can be apprehensive about the security of their job (even part timers and casuals) and they take their cues from the owners/managers/leaders in the business. If you are negative about economic conditions, and are constantly harping on the impact of the economic climate, the online threat etc., it does not make much sense to spend money on training because it won’t stick anyway. Even the ‘free’ training sponsored by the Government may be a waste of time because there is a real opportunity cost to consider.

TWO: Make INFORMAL learning more effective

People have always learned most of what they know through a process of experiential osmosis. (We call it Social Learning.)

Technology has now caught up and we are able to offer solutions that actually work effectively as social learning platforms and importantly, people have become used to some of the practices and protocols that apply on sites like LinkedIn Groups, Facebook etc.

1.            Make it Social

Organisations are attempting to harness the learning that happens anyway in the workplace to be better organised, to be recognised and be valued internally, and to be more effective. (Some thoughts from a leading thinker can be found here if you are interested in training matters.)

An Accenture study has found that:

The majority of workers surveyed (55%) report that they are under pressure to develop additional skills to succeed in their current and future jobs. But only 21% say they have acquired new skills through formal, company-provided training during the past five years; only 6% have participated in training through podcasts and other informal mechanisms.

(Another related Accenture article in HBR can be found here.)

2.            Make it continuous.

Learning is a lifelong journey and that is not just a cliché. It is obvious in a 24/7 world – and a world that is constantly changing (as we all experience) that learn-as-you go is the only solution that is viable. But this learning must still be ‘managed’ and guided to ensure it is relevant (not fun for fun’s sake) and that risks are appropriately managed.

It may be obvious. It may be cost-effective. It may be necessary. But how DO you make learning social?

There is no easy answer because it is not an easy process. Most organisations will still need a progressive L&D professional to help manage the processes and to implement a non-training approach to workplace learning.

We know it works, and TOMORROW we will reveal what we are doing about it...

Stay tuned.